Miss Clueless

 Today is the last day of June, and I feel compelled to jot down the books I read this month to reflect on my experience and learnings. These are the books: ~The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen ~My Seditious Heart by Arundhati Roy ~Annihilation of Caste by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar ~History of Modern Manipur by Lal Dena Just four. It's okay, really. There is no compulsion to read 6,7 books every month. Reading fewer books doesn't mean I'm learning less. In fact, I learned more deeply. The books this month have been impactful in different ways. Clearly, there is a shift in my choices. I'm leaning more into nonfiction now. I guess I've always been angry and frustrated deep inside. About the climate crisis, social injustice, war, etc. Living in the comforting world of fiction was an escape from all these thoughts. As I read more nonfiction, I get angrier, but I know I should keep myself informed of reality. Then perhaps I'd be able to do something about it. I'm not ...

Reading Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq—the winner of the International Booker Prize 2025—was, I'm not going to lie, a frustrating experience. This is a collection of short stories about oppressed Muslim women, many of whom are trapped in painful, inhumane relationships, mostly with their husbands. So many of these women had no way out. No choice. Their circumstances, their communities, and the world around them offered little to no support. Reading about their lives was infuriating. Aside from this, do I think it deserves the prize? I think there must have been books in the shortlist/longlist I'd've liked better than this, though I haven't read the others. Also, I found the book repetitive and predictable. The theme, the stories, the characters, maybe even the dialogues. 

The Doctor and the Saint  is a nonfiction essay that presents a theoretical debate between B.R. Ambedkar and M.K. Gandhi. The "Doctor" refers to Ambedkar, jurist, economist, and the chief architect of India’s Constitution, while the "Saint" is Gandhi, the internationally revered leader of India’s independence movement. The essay was published as the introduction to B.R. Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste, a text of a speech that was never delivered. Gandhi admirers beware! The book reveals some surprising, lesser-known facts about him. For one, he was consistently inconsistent. Who'd've thought! Caste system. Can someone please explain? AR : "What we call the caste system today is known in Hinduism's founding texts as 'varnashrama dharma' or 'chaturvarna', the system of four varnas. The approximately four thousand endogamous castes and subcastes (jatis) in Hindu society, each with its own specified hereditary occupation, are divide...

May was a month of mixed moods and powerful stories. Some books were as comforting as a bedtime drink, while others cracked open bigger conversations about history, identity, and mortality. Here's a look at everything I read this month: 📘  The Little Prince , Antoine de Saint-Exupéry A tender philosophical tale wrapped in a children's story about a young prince's journey through planets and people. This may be a global favourite, but you don’t always have to love what others love. Still, it was nice,  wistful, and okay in the best way. 🧹  Kiki’s Delivery Service , Eiko Kadono A young witch starts her own delivery business and finds independence and friendship in a seaside town. Reading this felt like drinking a warm cup of milk. Pure comfort. 🌿  The God of Small Things , Arundhati Roy A haunting, nonlinear novel about forbidden love, caste, and childhood trauma in Kerala. I get why this is famous—and I totally agree. Roy’s language is lush, her story devastating. ...